Mean Spirited: Evil Dead 2.0

In other news, the newly “reimagined” Evil Dead made it to disc recently. It performed well in theaters and received surprisingly decent reviews, so at some point, I knew I’d have to open the box. Make no mistake, I have serious love for Sam Raimi’s original gonzo trilogy – and like many fans, it seemed blasphemous to me to tackle any kind of redo of The Evil Dead. The films are unique and of their own time – and if you think Evil Dead, you think Bruce Campbell. Newcomer Fede Alvarez (Panic Attack!) chose (I think pretty wisely) to avoid having any kind of an Ash (Campbell) counterpart character, as any comparison to Bruce would be pretty much doomed. The new Evil Dead is even produced by Raimi and Campbell, so Alvarez pretty much had the nod from the Vatican to proceed.


Evil Dead starts off as a fun rental. The same cabin-in-the-woods dynamic – the same dark forest where evil dwells. It starts off with a terrifically twisty prologue that tweaks the original while evoking its own shocks, then moves along with a younger generation of Cabin Fever characters…which brings us to Eli Roth. There’s a lot to like in Evil Dead – it’s fantastic looking with dynamite cinematography by Aaron Morton and a really sensational score by Roque Baños. Alvarez cuts together some great sequences (with editor Bryan Shaw) – if your unfamiliar with Raimi’s originals you’re probably in for some genuinely brutal scares – and therein lies most of the problem. Raimi infused his films with abundant sly winks and his own unique, surreal sense of humor. Alvarez in contrast is very definitely working in a post-Hostel, post-J-horror vocabulary. Evil Dead is much more sadistic and mean-spirited than the films that inspired it. There’s little relief from the escalating carnage and getting through the final act feels burdensome. The dead here are more the shaggy-haired neck-jerkers of The Ring than what we’ve seen previously. The cast seems to have been chosen due to their resemblance to other actors – one seems more like Brad Pitt, another looks like Joaquin Phoenix – and for the most part they’re fairly disposable – which is how the film treats them. The standout is Jane Levy as Mia – in the film’s most inventive departure, she’s come to the cabin to try and kick heroin – a cool idea the film doesn’t go nearly far enough with. Levy does terrific work here – she ought to get a medal for what she goes through.

For me, if I’m going to recommend a film that best delivers on horror tropes, I’m going with The Cabin in the Woods. Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon always remembered that a good horror movie never stops being fun. Alvarez and his gang certainly gave this their energetic best – this is a very creative group and they deserve high marks for seeming to completely ignore CGI in favor of old school practical effects – which are as sinew-popping as imaginable. If Alvarez and company tackle a sequel, I’d love to see them go even further in their own direction and drive off the reservation when it comes to remaking what’s come before. I’d also suggest they go back and watch The Descent, Neil Marshall’s spectacular subterranean shock-fest. It remains one of the best examples of how to scare the living wind out of you, while making sure you remember to give a damn about the people it’s happening to.